News 09:00

BULLETIN 29 December 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africans working as IT specialists are stuck against their will in Thailand
# The National Investigative Task Team probing the matric exam leak is handing over its preliminary report
# And, there is no major breakthrough in the Ukraine peace talks following the Trump-Zelensky meeting

# Fourteen South Africans are reportedly stuck in Thailand, and their families are pleading for help from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to secure their safe return home. The group working as IT specialists in Thailand say they are being held against their will after falling for job scams that promised good work. Retired Interpol ambassador, Andy Mashaile, described this situation to the SABC as modern-day slavery:

# The National Investigative Task Team set up by the Department of Basic Education to probe the matric exam cheating scandal, will hand over its preliminary report to minister Siviwe Gwarube this week. Twenty-six matric candidates from seven Pretoria schools were found to have accessed exam papers in three subjects. Two officials from the Basic Education Department were suspended. The investigation by the task team includes confirming the exact source of the breach, verifying the spread of the leak, and recommending steps to safeguard the integrity of the matric exams moving forward.

 # Eskom says three-thousand-70-megawatts of generation capacity will be returned to service ahead of the evening peak today, supporting a stable electricity supply throughout the week. The power utility’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena says year to date, planned maintenance was at an average of five-thousand-377-megawatts, accounting for 11.44-percent of total generation capacity. She says this is significantly lower than the 12.16-percent over the same period last year:

# US president Donald Trump says negotiators are getting closer to a Ukraine peace deal, but acknowledged that thorny issues remain, most notably on the issue of land. He met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, on Sunday. This latest meeting follows shortly after Russia launched the year’s longest sustained assault on Kyiv, killing at least two people and wounding dozens. Trump says Russia had little interest in a ceasefire that would allow Ukraine to hold a referendum:

# Tennis: The much-anticipated 2025 rendition of the Battle of the Sexes exhibition match saw Nick Kyrgios come out on top against top-ranked women’s player Aryna Sabalenka. The Australian, who has won only one competitive singles match since the end of 2022, defeated the Belarusian, 6-3, 6-3, in Dubai. Sabalenka’s side of the court was reduced in size by nine-percent for the criticised contest, with the modified rules also seeing both players restricted to one serve for each point rather than the usual two, which favoured Kyrgios.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-67-cents and the euro at 19-rand-63-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 90-thousand-32-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-513-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 60-dollars-81-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….